Thermoaerostat



July 5, 1932. D N 1,866,079

THERMOAEROSTAT Filed Dec. 16. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR, Jae 2% 370714157; B

ATTORNEY y I J. BLONDIN 1,866,079

THILIRMOAEROSTAT I Filed Dec. 16, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 A TTORNEi Patented July 5, 1932 PATENT OFFICE JosErH BLONDI'N, or Los .ANGELES, canronm I THERMOAEROSTAT Application filed December 16 1929. Serial No. 414,495.

My immediate invention relates to aircraft of the lighterthan-air type, (commonly called a montgolfier or hot-air balloon) designed to carry its own fuel and air-heating furnace; whereby it can accomplish long voyages. until the fuel is exhausted. I

So far as I am aware, all previous voyaging montgolfiers (dating from 1783), were straw-burners, and this bulky and dangerous flaming fuel led to their being banned from use as cross-country air-transport mediums, in favor of hydrogen and coalas balloons; the only type that has persisted eing the familiar county fair balloon, whose air is heated in a ground furnace and which carries no fuel charge, into the atmosphere.

Another form of montgolfier, dating from 1853, when liquid hydrocarbon fuels became 'generally available, comprised attempts to use this ideal concentrated fuel, with its high heat-content. But, perhaps because of the last named characteristic, all these attempts took the form of developing a rival ofthe gasballoon, throughthe use of Bunsen-type burners, designed to superheat the air, with the aim of securing a lift per unit' volume, equivalent to hydrogen, or at least, to coalgas.

None of the aforementioned types of montgolfiers embodied ideas or attempts to improve the balloon-proper, that is to say, the bag which contains the air to be heated, this being merely assembled and coated with some starch or pigment filler designed solely to increase the bags impermeability to the heated air within it; nor ideas or attempts to condition the bags contained air to make it more conductive and absorbent of heat; nor ideas or attempts to eliminate the original defect of the montgolfier of 1783, nakedflaine burners or furnaces; nor ideas or attempts to promote efiicient circulation of the air within the bag, or promote quick and wide dissemination of heat throughout the air within the bag; nor ideas or attempts to govern or control the circulation of air within the bag, nor to govern or control the compression and release of compression of the air within the bag; andall of these preceding machines weredevoid of ideas and attempts to make the machine as a whole more practical to handle, inflate, launch, control, and

land. Up to the present writing, the original and traditional method of launching these machines isused, which involves the use of high poles, rope and tackle, and numerous volunteer assistance.

Obviously, montgolfiers produced and operated in the above mentioned manner have numerous disadvantages not fitting them for independent operation from any open field encountered. in cross-country voyages, with heater means carried aboard and within the capacity of the machines pilotand helper, or he pers: a condition absolutely essential to montgolfier operation, if the latter is to be developed as a practical air-transport machine.

- It accordingly is an object of my present invention, to eliminate effectively all the above named disadvanta es, and provide principles and processes an means to create a really new type of aircraft (which I call a thermoaerostat or heat-balloon) which shall be su-- perior in every respect to every type of montgolfier so far developed, and while making no attempt to rival hydrogen or coal-gas balloons in lifting capacity per unit of volume, will be materially cheaper to construct and operate, and will provide a type of aircraftideal for the study and development of meteorology, aerial photography, mapping, exploration, cross-country voyaging, and every other purpose within the scope of lighterthan-air aircraft.

To this end the balloon-proper-of my thermo-aerostat is processed, with the ob ect of making it a su erior container of hot air, and a retainer of the heat of said air. A distinctive feature of this invention, therefore, is the purpose and process whereby the balloon proper or bag, iscoated inside with a white lacquer that not only impermeabilizes it, but makes it reflect and radiate the heat of its contained air back into the air-mass and materiall reduce the loss of heat by radiation from its exterior; and is coated outside with a black, orange, or other appropriate colored lacquer designed not only to weatherroof it but to make it absorb the heat of t e sun and of the surrounding atmosphere. Both .of these chemical and actinic processes contribute to the long life of the bag, in protecting its fabric, and both.

contribute to the duration of any given voyage and to economy by efficiently using and retainingthe heat generated by the furnace, and'by supplementing said heat by that derived from natural outside sources; and in both cases, a ain, byreducing loss of heat by radiation rom the balloons surfaces.

Another object of my invention is to provide a princi 1e and process and method of treatin air that will render it more absorbent of eat than its natural state permits. Hot, dry air alone is almost perfectly transparent to heat; an insulator rather than a expansible qualities,

' said vapors, odors or gases, and particularly, the use of water-vapor (not steam), as an indirect or auxiliary'heat-carrying medium, whose greater specific-heat capacity absorbs, conducts and transfers heat from the furnace to the air within the balloon, whereby a greater volume of air is heated in less time than by any other possible direct a plication of heat to dry-air alone; and w ereby the greater expansible quality of the said mixture, per unit of heat absorbed, provides an aerostatic lifting-medium per unit volume, much superior to-the simple hot dryair of former montgolfiers. The water vapor is produced, by, in my present method, evaporation from an annular fabric .apron surrounding furnace elements, said apron being saturated with water continually drawn from a reservoir, by capillary attraction.

Another object of m invention is to provide an inclosed-flame urner or air-heating furnace, of the catalytic typp, wherein refractory material is made to a sorb all flames and is rendered lowing or incandescent thereby and is so s a d that the air is held in contact with the eatin medium for a longer period of time than in all preceding types 0 air to be heated merely traverses the flame.

As before stated, all previous montgolfier li aid-fuel furnaces made use of variations 0 Bunsen burners so grouped that the air exposed-flame burners, wherein 'the traversing the burners left the furnace in a central, ascending, coherent or compact column or pole form. My invention provides a type 0 furnace consisting of one or more annular or ring-burners including glowing or incandescent material, whereb air traversing the same and contacting t e sides of the ring is heated and leaves the furnace as a continuation of the shape of the burner. That is to say, in the shape of a tube or series of concentric tubes depending on the number of ring burners used.

This ring or hollow cylinder of heated air rises, expands, and disseminates its heat to the surrounding air from both its inside and outside surfaces or walls, so to speak, thereby heating contiguous air more quickly and effectively than an central, coherent pole of hot air can possib y do, as such a central column tends to hold together, slowly losing its heat from its exterior surface only.

Another object of my invention is to provide means within the balloon the purpose of which is to intercept and revent the hot air arising from the furnace rom cohering into a central column or pole which otherwise, as in all preceding montgolfiers, would rise directly to the top of the balloon and from thence mushroom downward. A distinctivefeature of this invention, therefore, is an inverted, cone-shaped diaphragm hung in the balloons interior which. causes the hot air currents to be deflected laterally or radially towards the balloons sides, whereby hot air currents are forced to traverse the peripheral, instead of the central, mass of superincumbent air, transferring to the same the furnace-supplied heat.

Therefore the whole air-mass within the balloon can be heated throughout most efliciently, to-a relatively low terminal masstemperature, and whereby the creation of localized hot-spots against the balloons envelope or surfaces, is prevented. This diaphragm is treated or lacquered white, inside and outside, and assists the balloons interior, similarly-coated, in reflecting and radiating back into the air mass, all the latters heat rays and vibrations.

Another object of my invention is to provide a design of neck-valve, and method of admission of airinto and expulsion from the balloon such as will permit of a more positive and certain control of the balloons vertical movements. In all previous mcntgolfiers neck-valves proper were not used; the neck or equivalent aperture, being left ipermanent- 1y open, resulting in a constant ow of cold air into the balloon. A distinctive feature of this invention is the design and employment of a neck-valve which can be closed and opened, at will, but which contains, also, permanentl open apertures designed to feed just su cient air for furnace operation, or combustion. The neck-valve proper is designed to be opened fully to admit fresh air to the balloon, to cool and lower the'mass temperature of the balloons contained air and cause a descent of the balloon-system as a whole, or to be closed, when desired, to preballoon system as a whole to rise, or to circulate the balloons contained air and disseminate therein just sufiicient heat to maintain the air mass at adesired temperature, and at a consequent desired altitude.

Another result of the design and operation of this neck-valve is the re-use and circulation of the balloons contained air, effecting, thereby, a material economy in the use of fuel, and likewise, the increased duration of a given voyage as the result of fuel economy.

Another distinctive feature of the neck valve proper, is the incorporation therewith of supplementary or auxiliary valve-ports with accompanying valve-flaps normally closed under tension of springs'and designed to open automatically under pressure of balloons contained air to safely relieve pressure caused either by a too rapid increase of temperature, or by expansion of the balloons contained air, due to the ascension of the balloon system as a whole, into the rarer at mosphere of higher altitudes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a design of basket or car which shall carry all accommodations for pilot and passengers, all controls governing the operation of the balloon, fuel and furnace for levitation, and such features of construction as shall easily permit the attachment of the balloon-section thereto; and finally, the incorporation .of a centrifugal fan or blower, whereby, after the balloon-section is attached to the car-section, air is forced into the balloon, inflating same, which inflation is regulated by sand-bags applied to the balloons netting or equivalent, as in conventional gasballoon practice. When sufficient air is thus injected into the balloon, the furnace is started and through the continued joint action of the blower and the furnace, complete infia tion is effected without the use of poles, ropes, tackle, and large retinue of helpers which has so handicapped all montgolfier operations of the past. In other words, I aim to provide a self-launched balloon.

Further, this invention embodies a design of balloon and suspension rigging, closely neck is eliminated and replaced by the furnace-flue, which is carried centrally'above the basket, and the balloon-section proper is detachably fixed directly to a neck-ring forming the extreme top of the furnace-flue.

As a further feature one side of the furnace-flue, and one side of the basket, are provided with complementary skids upon which the basket and furnace-system, as a ments in this art as set forth in the ensuing disclosure and having, with the above, additional objects and advantages, and whose construction, combination and details of means, and the manner of operation will be made manifest in the ensuing description of the herewith illustrative apparatus; it being understood that modifications, variation and adaptations may be resorted to within the scope, principle and spirit of the invention as it is more directly claimed thereinafter.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my thermoaerostat'invention, showing a one-quarter section removed for illustrating interior elements and arrangements of same.

Figure 2 is a plan of the furnace and surrounding parts.

Figure 3 is a plan of the basket or car showing relative position of the landing skids and other parts.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the car laid on side skids with the balloon neck partly connected to cage ring.

Figure 5 is a side elevation ofthe upble of an exterior coat of a water-proofing and' heat absorbing media, or possessing bag is a suitable head valve 3 above which is a spaced bonnet 4.

One or more of the usual rip valves 5 are. provided, and exterior filling-loops 6, loadnets or rigging 7, a dripbelt 8, and equator lines 9 are incorporated and replace the common netting. a

' The bottom of the bag or balloon-section is attachable to a stout neck-ring 10 which 1 forms the crown of an upper cage-compartment formed by a balcony 11 which forms the roofof a lower car-compartment and is also the base supporting the heating apparatus, later described. The rim of the balcony comprises a buffer ring 13 at one side of which are fixed outward and upward extending skid either of these properties. At the top of the 3' skids 14, having similar skids 18, so that when landing, and at other periods, the combined cage structure rides or rests on its skid side.

These upper and lower cage compartments are connected by a skeleton of stiff standards 1 19 in columnar arrangement andextending Well above and also well within the neck-ring 10 and are bent radially inward to form a flat dome 20 extending into the connected bag 2, and, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, to support the superposed and collapsed fabric bag well aboge the ring 1Q, for reasons later dlscovere The rings 10-13 are also vertically connected by a fabric wall 22, which is perforated at its lower part to form numerous valveports 23. Entirely surrounding the wall at its base is a sleeve, lift-valve 24 which'carries valve ports to register with the wall ports 23. The sleeve ports are covered with outwardly opening, spring, closed flaps 25. The device forms the neck-valve system of the balloon, whereby, by lifting the sleeve valve 24 opens all wall ports to the atmosphere thus permitting the intake of cold air to lower the temperature in the balloon proper and effect the descent of the balloon system.

In its lowered position the lift-valve 24 closes all of the ports 23, thus forcing the balloons contained air to circulateathrough the furnace; whereby. the air can be maintained at a given temperature with the minimum expenditure of fuel, and whereby, in

this position of valve any undue internal pressure of air in the balloon due either to temperature or expansion due to ascent to higher altitudes is relieved automatically through the outwardly opening vent'valves 25. 'The platform or balcony 11 supports the furnace which consists of one or more annular or hollow stove chambers 30-, Fig. 6, which contain a filling of refractory fragments, as of vitrous material, made incandescent by a flame from a suitable gas or retort burner 31.

' suspended, conical diaphragm 33 which thus disperses the hot air widely as it flows toward the top of the balloon whence, by. convection,

it flows down along the inside wall of the envelop to be re-heated by the furnace.

The stovefuel tanks 34 are disposed between concentric walls of the car whence the fuel is suitably conveyed to the burner.

to be absorbed by the heated air rain the furnace.

Depending from the platform 11 is a fabric tube 38 through which air is injected into a balloon from a suitable blower 39 in the car forinitial inflation after the bag has been drawn into mushroom position overthe uprighted cage, as in Fig. 5. During flight or voyage the tube 38 remains in free open'communication tothe atmosphere and serves as a vent for any heavy gases of combustion which-may form from furnace-action.

Access may be had into the bag during air inflation for inspection and adjustment as needed, this being done througha normally closed manhole in the bottom of the bag section 2.

A different medium than air may be used for the lifting agent, such, for instance as the incombustible gas, helium.

It will be seen that when the cage is upended as in Fig. 5, the diaphragm is supported by the cage crown and the inflating tube 38 15 attached to the blower and this is operated; inflation will lift the bag to the dotted line form'and the head valve 3 will close and the bag can be blown to about onethird its capacity, whereupon the furnace can be started. Sand bags are then attached and equator lines set to control complete inflation under joint action of the blower and the furnace. 1

When a landing is to bemade the usual drag line is launched and on taking hold will turn the vessel to such a position as to cause 'the car skids 16 to come into presentation to the ground and effect a landing on the landin skids 18-14.

llVhat is claimed is:

coated inside with a heat deflecting and radiating medium, and coated outside with a heat absorbing medium; whereby a maximum heat transmission is efi'ected throughout the air within the balloon anda minimum of heat loss to outside atmosphere is permitted from the balloon.

2. In thermo-aerostat inflation, the method including the introduction of a vapor laden gas as a heat-absorbent conditioner of the air in the balloon and as a heat carrier between a source of heat and the air inthe balloon. T

3. In thermo-aerostat inflation, the method including the introduction of hot vapor laden gases as heat-absorbent conditioners of the air in the balloon and as heat carriers be tween. a source of heat and the air in the balloon and as rarefiers of the mass density of the air in the balloon.

4. In thermo-aerostat inflation, the method includin the introduction of a vapor laden fluid medium which has been'highly heated 1. In a thermo-aerostat, a balloon section I Ill I the balloon and which acts as heatcarrier between a source of heat and the air in the. balloon, and as rarefierof the mass density of the air; whereby the air in the balloon-is rendered more eflicient as an aerostatic or lifting medium than atmospheric air alonev can be. I

5. In combination with a thermo-aerostat, a means maintained in a damp condition and exposed to air flow in the balloon space to form a liquid evaporator orvaporizer to condition the contained air and make it more absorbent of heat and means for heating the air passing adjacent to said means.

6. In. combination with 'a thermo-aerostat, a furnace having a free central air flow passageway and including an annular burner and a superadjacent annular refractory radiator; whereby air circulating up past the furnace is made to assume a hot hollow column form dispersing its heat inwardly and outwardly at the same time to heat contacted air passing axially and externally along the furnace.

7. In combination with a thermo-aerostat, including a main body section in which is suspended an inverted. conical dispersing diaphragm whose upper rim is spaced from the body wall to provide ample convection current space. and an 'air heating furnace arranged in the neck of the section and whose top' is well below the superspaced apposed point of the inverted conical diaphragm, whereby hot air from the heater' impinges the said point and is then diverted upwardly to the rim of the diaphragm.

8. In a thermo-aerostat, a furnace, a balloon section having a neck-valve structure having manually operative means to admit cold air to the balloon. and including means operative to automatically effect a balance of pressure between the balloon content and the outside when the former is the higher.

9. In a thermo-aerostat. a car cage including a passenger basket, a platform above the basket. and having aballoon section ring frame: said basket. platform and frame being spaced apart and rigidly combined by a columnar bar system.

10. In a thermo-aerostat. a car cage includ- I delivered to the bag.

12. In a thermo-aerostat, means to treat the contained air, and including an annular hnmidifying apron about which air may flow downward along one face and upward about the other, and an annular heat radiator concentric with said apron; whereby a hollow cylindrical column heated, moistened air is delivered to the bag; said radiator being disposed within the apron and spaced therefore to form an upflow passageway.

13. In a thermo-aerostat, a neck wall, a humidifying apron hung concentric within said wall, and a concentric annular furnace within said apron; whereby convecting air in the bag is heated and humidified concur rently.

14. In a thermo-aerostat, a neck wall hav-. ing valve means including a shiftable sleeve having ports registerable with ports in the wall and provided with breathing valves adapted to open to expel air from the aerostat and to close themselves to prevent ingress of cold air.

15. In a thermo-aerostat, a neck wall having valve means acting automatically to ad- 

